Jobs @ ThinkGeek

ThinkGeek is hiring! w00t! Open positions are detailed below. Please e-mail your resume to us at the address listed in the job description. Text, HTML and PDF formats are preferred. Don’t be shy, if you’ve got the skills and want to work hard and have fun with a bunch of geeks and their dogs, we want to hear from you!

Current Open Positions:
Industrial Design Specialist
Copywriter
T-Shirt Illustrator
Product Photographer & Retoucher
Merchandiser & Product Buyer
Graphic Designer
Systems Administrator
Senior Perl Programmer
Director of Marketing
Industrial Design Specialist (Wizard of Unique Makeology)

Posted: July 7, 2009

Become part of a dynamic group at ThinkGeek developing custom manufactured retail products.

Your job will be to help facilitate the process of taking a new product idea from conception, to prototype, to final finished item. Products can be as simple as a custom plush toy or as complex as an electronic gadget. You will coordinate with our existing partners in the US and Asia. You will also work to find new partners depending on the product requirements and existing vendor strengths and weaknesses. You will be specifically responsible for negotiating costs, aggressively managing timetables and resources, researching and applying for patents and copyrights, quality control processes, packaging, licensing opportunities, and delivery arrangements for the product(s).

ThinkGeek is looking for someone who understands products well. What is feasible to create… what is not? What are the general processes needed to create the item desired? What improvements or analysis can you add to help improve the product? You don’t need to be able to build an electronic circuit from the ground up, but you do need to have a good understanding of generally how gadgets and technology work, an eye for design and know what is able to be realistically created at a certain retail price point.

This is a hands on job. You might be asked to build a simple physical mock-up product one day, write some instructions for a product another day, or fly to China and meet with our vendors. If you love to build things and want to help ThinkGeek create the coolest most unique geeky products around, then we have a great job for you!

Please Keep in Mind!
We have specific requirements for people applying for the Industrial Design Specialist position. Please read the “How To Apply” section below to make sure you apply correctly or your application will not be considered.

Requirements

College degree or equivalent
Hands on experience with making things or modding existing products. Electronics, crafts, tinkering… etc.
Highly detail oriented and organized
Understanding of product style and ergonomics
Strong understanding of retail price points and technical capabilities of consumer products
Strong negotiation/sales skills
Keen familiarity with popular tech culture (gaming, science, computers, internet culture, etc.)
Independently motivated with a strong work ethic
Excellent person-to-person, communication & written skills
Travel abroad 2-3 times/year (China/Hong Kong/Japan)
Very strong spreadsheet and word processing skills.
Very strong computer and internet use skills.
Team oriented personality with only occasional bouts of solipsism.
Ability to grok ThinkGeek.
An appreciation for Star Wars, good beer, dogs, monkeys and smoked bbq ribs is a plus.
This position is on site in our Fairfax, Virginia office only. No outsourcing or freelance positions for this job will be considered. Not even you Mighty Mouse.

Strongly Desired

E-commerce experience
Manufacturing experience
Chinese Language skills a plus (Mandarin and/or Cantonese)
Patent, Trademark, Copyright and Licensing experience a plus

How To Apply
ThinkGeek is a small, close-knit group of fun, weird, and enthusiastic people who run one of the most successful niche e-commerce sites on the Internets. As part of SourceForge, Inc, a publicly held company, ThinkGeek employees receive an excellent benefits package while enjoying the perks of working in an exciting start-up environment in our Fairfax, Virginia office. This posting is for a permanent, full time position in our Fairfax, Virginia office. Only local applicants or those willing to relocate at their own expense will be considered.

In addition to your cover letter, resume and salary requirements please complete the following simple assignment. Failure to include everything, including the assignment will cause your application to not be considered. (no hard feelings, but we need to make sure you really want the job… ok?)

Industrial Design Specialist Assignment
Please submit a list of your 4 favorite existing retail products, with links to photos and/or product listings. The retail price for each item should be $50 or less. For each product answer the following questions:

Why did you choose this product? What is unique, technically interesting, or visually appealing about it?
What technical and design challenges do you think the manufacturer faced when creating this product?
What would you change about this product to improve it?
Obviously you know the retail price to the consumer, but what do you think it cost the manufacturer to make this product?
Please submit your assignment in your cover letter, or as part of your PDF, HTML or plain-text resume.

Apply for the Industrial Design Specialist position here:

Copywriter

Posted: July 1, 2009

ThinkGeek is looking to hire an on-site copywriter who will assist our merchandising and marketing teams in writing creative content that fits the ThinkGeek voice. If you’re The One, you will also have an understanding and appreciation for technology and gadgets, an immersive understanding of popular geek culture, and a sense of humor that’s cutting. You will be writing across a variety of media (primarily web and print).

Some examples of the types of projects you will be working on:

Assisting merchandisers with front-end product copy for all variety of products from simple shirts to complicated gadgets.
Writing press releases.
Working with the marketing team to write ThinkGeek promotional copy (banner ads, print ads, catalogs).
Working on packaging, instructional sheets and documentation for in-house developed projects.
Assisting the customer service team by writing customer-facing communication.
Requirements:

At least 4 years of professional copywriting experience.
A degree in English/marketing/communications/journalism or equivalent combination of education and experience.
The ability to understand and describe complicated technical products to customers.
A gift for coordinating several different in-flight efforts simultaneously.
A strong analytical and process-oriented mindset.
A creative bent.
Other desired skills: (not required, but very nice to have)

You love science fiction and fantasy.
You love video games and all things technology.
You are a geek and love geek pop culture.
You have a great sense of humor.
Only applications that include portfolios of previous copywriting samples will be accepted.

ThinkGeek is a small, close-knit group of fun, weird, and enthusiastic people who run one of the most successful niche e-commerce sites on the Internets. As part of SourceForge, Inc, a publicly held company, ThinkGeek employees receive an excellent benefits package while enjoying the benefits of working in an exciting start-up environment in our Fairfax, Virginia office. This posting is for a permanent, full time position in our Fairfax, Virginia office. Only local applicants or those willing to relocate at their own expense will be considered.

Please submit your resume, portfolio, and salary requirements in PDF, HTML or plain text format. Sorry, freelance or offsite requests will absolutely not be accepted.

Apply for the Copywriter position here:
T-Shirt Illustrator

Posted: July 1, 2009

ThinkGeek is looking for an impressive Illustrator with a deep understanding of geek culture who is also passionate about technology. ThinkGeek has a fast growing design department, and we want you to be a part of it. When you aren’t generating amazing ideas and illustrating T-shirts, you will be helping out with various design tasks based on our needs: making web graphics, photoshopping images, photographing products, doing print and web marketing, prepping our print catalog, creating custom packaging, and even designing elements for custom video games.

You must have a great sense of humor, and amazing illustration abilities and technique. Can you draw Rancors with your tablet while blindfolded? Good. That’s a start.

Requirements:

At least 5 years of professional pop-culture illustration.
Advanced illustration skills in various styles & techniques.
Degree in graphic design or equivalent combination of education and experience.
Ability to quickly illustrate multiple concept prototypes.
High-level proficiency in Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, the Gimp, or other similar design software.
Proficiency in designing graphics optimized for web use.
Deep familiarity with Internet culture, gaming, science, math, assorted smart stuff, and a general affinity towards geeks.
You really enjoy:

video games (including retro games).
old-school table-top games and/or boardgames.
science, math, and assorted smart stuff.
computers and technology.
robots and the future.
braaaaaaaains! (Oh, sorry. Our HR zombie got distracted there for a sec.)
geek pop-culture.
gadgets, gizmos and shiny things.
dreaming in 8-bit.
Only applications that include portfolios of previous illustration work will be accepted.

ThinkGeek is a small, close-knit group of fun, weird, and enthusiastic people who run one of the most successful niche e-commerce sites on the Internets. As part of SourceForge, Inc, a publicly held company, ThinkGeek employees receive an excellent benefits package while enjoying the benefits of working in an exciting start-up environment in our Fairfax, Virginia office. This posting is for a permanent, full time position in our Fairfax, Virginia office. Only local applicants or those willing to relocate at their own expense will be considered.

Please submit your resume, portfolio, and salary requirements in PDF, HTML or plain text format. Sorry, freelance or offsite requests will absolutely not be accepted

Apply for the T-Shirt Illustrator position here:

Product Photographer & Retoucher

Posted: June 16, 2009

ThinkGeek is looking for a Photographer with excessively mad Photoshop skills. Primary responsibilities will include shooting and retouching product photos and preparing images for web and print. You will also assist our lead Photographer in planning and executing photo shoots. In both cases, you will be working closely with our Merchandising and Creative teams to ensure photos meet the creative and branding needs of the site.

Requirements

Expert in digital photography and photo retouching.
Expert in Adobe Photoshop and other digital capture and retouching applications
At least 2 years of photography experience (SLR Digital Cameras); professional studio and/or product photography experience a BIG plus
Experience designing & setting up various types of studio lighting
Experience creating product animations for web use (animated gif, Flash, etc)
Excellent communication skills and willingness to be given creative direction when necessary
Familiarity with Internet culture, gaming, and an affinity towards geeks
Other desired skills (very nice to have):

Product-specific photography & styling experience
Portrait photography
Experience with shooting and editing video
Graphic Design
HTML and web design
When applying, please include photography samples or links to sites with samples and portfolios. If we can’t look at your work, we can’t hire you. Just like we can’t hire programmers who don’t have code samples, or bounty hunters who don’t have trophies.

ThinkGeek is a small, close-knit group of fun and enthusiastic people who run one of the most successful geek-related e-commerce sites on the Internet. As part of SourceForge, Inc, a publicly held company, ThinkGeek employees receive an excellent benefits package while enjoying the additional benefits of working in an exciting start-up environment in our Fairfax, Virginia office. This posting is for a permanent, full time position in our Fairfax, Virginia office. Only local applicants or those willing to relocate at their own expense will be considered.

Please submit your resume, portfolio, and salary requirements when applying. Sorry, freelance or offsite requests will absolutely not be accepted. To apply, click the “Apply Now” button. You will get an email from us confirming that we have received your application.

Apply for the Product Photographer & Retoucher position here:

Merchandiser & Product Buyer

Posted: May 29, 2009

The ThinkGeek Overlords are seeking a Merchandiser & Buyer that will be responsible for growth, profitability and overall awesomeosity of several product lines.

Specific responsibilities include:

Source and buy products that fit into the unique ThinkGeek product mix
Develop and maintain vendor relationships
Predict, manage and reorder inventory for several ThinkGeek product lines
Merchandise and manage your products throughout the ThinkGeek website
Work with our customer service, marketing and development staff on items related to your product lines.
Required:

College degree or equivalent
4-6 years experience as product manager or buyer, preferably for toys, gadgets, or consumer electronics.
Excellent person-to-person skills
Highly detail oriented and organized
Strong spreadsheet and word processing skills required
Strong computer and internet use skills
An understanding of Internet & Geek Culture. An ability to Grok ThinkGeek.
Willing to occasionally drive to New Jersey to visit our warehouse when needed.
Must be willing to play with a pile of gadgets and gizmos in the search for the perfect products for the site.
This position is on site in our Fairfax, Virginia offices only. No outsourcing or freelance positions for this job will be considered. Thanks for asking!

ThinkGeek is a small, close-knit group of fun, weird, and enthusiastic people who run one of the most successful niche e-commerce sites on the Internets. As part of SourceForge, Inc, a publicly held company, ThinkGeek employees receive an excellent benefits package while enjoying the benefits of working in an exciting start-up environment in our Fairfax, Virginia office. This posting is for a permanent, full time position in our Fairfax, Virginia office. Only local applicants or those willing to relocate at their own expense will be considered.

Please submit your resume and salary requirements in PDF, HTML or plain text format. Sorry, freelance or offsite requests will absolutely not be accepted. To apply, click the “Apply Now” button. You will get an email from us confirming that we have received your application.

Apply for the Merchandiser & Product Buyer position here:

Graphic Designer

Posted: May 22, 2009

ThinkGeek is looking for a seriously wicked Graphic Designer with skills and experience in creating optimized web graphics, illustration, print work, t-shirt design, and marketing/branding. Primary responsibilities will include supporting the graphical needs of our web development and marketing teams. Additional responsibilities will include T-shirt design and illustration, catalog and other print work, and miscellaneous ‘projects of the moment’.

Requirements:

At least 2 years of professional graphic design experience.
Degree in graphic design or equivalent combination of education and experience.
Proficiency in designing graphics optimized for web use.
Proficiency in Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, the Gimp, or other similar design software.
Intermediate to advanced illustration skills.
Familiarity with Internet culture, gaming, and an affinity towards geeks
Other desired skills: (not required, but very nice to have)

Digital photography and photo retouching
Branding experience
Experience in catalog design and production
Knowledge/Use of Flash
Familiarity with writing HTML
DHTML, XML, CSS, Javascript, Perl * Linux or Unix
Ability to draw an identifiable Boba Fett in < 60 seconds.
Only applications that include links to portfolios of previous design work will be accepted. It would be pretty silly to apply for a design job and not link to examples if your work!

This position is on site in our Fairfax, Virginia offices only. No outsourcing or freelance positions for this job will be considered. Thanks for asking!

ThinkGeek is a small, close-knit group of fun, weird, and enthusiastic people who run one of the most successful niche e-commerce sites on the Internets. As part of SourceForge, Inc, a publicly held company, ThinkGeek employees receive an excellent benefits package while enjoying the benefits of working in an exciting start-up environment in our Fairfax, Virginia office. This posting is for a permanent, full time position in our Fairfax, Virginia office. Only local applicants or those willing to relocate at their own expense will be considered.

Please submit your resume, portfolio, and salary requirements in PDF, HTML or plain text format. Sorry, freelance or offsite requests will absolutely not be accepted. To apply, click the "Apply Now" button. You will get an email from us confirming that we have received your application.

Apply for the Graphic Designer position here:

Systems Administrator

Posted: May 13, 2009

Do you dream shell commands? When someone jokes, "Is there an echo in here," do you think "Of course, it's a shell builtin!" When you wake up at 0 8 on a Saturday morning, do you wish you could adjust that last asterisk in your circadian cron job to 1-5? Do you swing from package dependency graphs like Timmy on his monkey bars? Does the prospect of three consecutive nights of post-midnight operations sound exciting? Can you do all that and still not curse under your breath when someone makes a boneheaded move on their workstation and needs your help to recover? If this sounds like you, you should apply to be our new staff systems administrator!

Applicant Objectives

3+ years professional experience managing and maintaining Linux servers
Experience supporting Windows and Macintosh desktops
Extensive knowledge of Apache configuration
Experience with MySQL backups, maintenance, and recovery
Familiarity with various package management systems, including RPM, emerge, etc.
Thorough understanding of networks, including firewalls and routing
Experience automating alerts and tasks using Perl
Ability to comprehend and implement complex business requirements in an exacting manner
Team-oriented personality
Good desk-side manner
Bonus Objectives

Some knowledge of SQL
Experience with heterogeneous VPNs, load-balancing network services, or wireless networks involving multiple locations
Experience identifying performance bottlenecks in network and server systems
Experience using BIND to deliver DNS service
Experience specifying hardware to meet software requirements and other business needs
ThinkGeek is a small, close-knit group of fun, weird, and enthusiastic people who run one of the most successful niche e-commerce sites on the Internets. As part of SourceForge, Inc, a publicly held company, ThinkGeek employees receive an excellent benefits package while enjoying the benefits of working in an exciting start-up environment in our Fairfax, Virginia office. This posting is for a permanent, full time position in our Fairfax, Virginia office. Only local applicants or those willing to relocate at their own expense will be considered.

Please submit your resume and salary requirements in PDF, HTML or plain text format to sys-admin-jobs@thinkgeek.com. Sorry, freelance or offsite requests will absolutely not be accepted.

Senior Perl Programmer

Posted: May 13, 2009

Here at ThinkGeek Laboratories, we are constantly developing new technologies to drive our web site and its attendant systems, but we have reached the bandwidth limits of our current team and need to further parallelize. Thus, we have embarked on an experiment to overlay Randal Schwartz's programming-related memory engrams on other staff members.

Unfortunately, early test subjects have not taken the process well. Not only are we nearly out of PHBs, but our budget for institutionalizing prior subjects is limited. We are therefore seeking subjects with extensive Perl coding experience, as we believe this will ease the restructuring of the mental pathways.

Subjects in ThinkGeek experiments will have opportunities to play with cool new stuff long before it appears on Engadget or Gizmodo, root access to the machine that goes "ping," and an atmosphere where you can pick your hours, run any desktop OS you like, and the freedom to wear shoes whenever your pinky toes are not hooked up to transcutaneous electrodes.

Our software is developed in-house, so projects will run a wide gamut of business areas (accounting to warehouse management, and everything in between). Development will be on an existing suite of software, so the ability to adapt to and extend an existing architecture is a must. Responsibilities will include: web/console/batch based application development, maintaining and configuring development servers, participation in requirements and specifications gathering processes, software quality assurance and internal documentation. The ideal candidate should have strong Linux skills and be able to work and learn new skills independently when necessary, but also work as part of a team.

Applicant Objectives

5+ years professional programming experience with Perl 5
4+ years professional experience working with databases (SQL)
Extensive knowledge of Apache and familiarity with Apache module development
Ability to comprehend and implement complex business requirements in an exacting manner
Team-oriented personality
Know how to work hard and have fun
Bonus Objectives

Experience developing automated functional and performance testing suites
XML
HTML/XHTML
Javascript/AJAX
Solid Linux Knowledge (4+ years of experience with Linux or Unix systems)
Retail industry software development experience
Web Services development (servers/clients)
First name Jen or Tim a plus
ThinkGeek is a small, close-knit group of fun, weird, and enthusiastic people who run one of the most successful niche e-commerce sites on the Internets. As part of SourceForge, Inc, a publicly held company, ThinkGeek employees receive an excellent benefits package while enjoying the benefits of working in an exciting start-up environment in our Fairfax, Virginia office. This posting is for a permanent, full time position in our Fairfax, Virginia office. Only local applicants or those willing to relocate at their own expense will be considered.

Please submit your resume and salary requirements in PDF, HTML or plain text format to coder-jobs09@thinkgeek.com. Sorry, freelance or offsite requests will absolutely not be accepted.

Director of Marketing

Posted: March 30, 2009

ThinkGeek is looking for a strategically oriented leader who is not above doing the legwork. This is an opportunity to help set the future direction of a fun, rapidly growing, highly successful Internet retailer. If you're interested in joining ThinkGeek as our Director of Marketing, write and tell us about the results you've accomplished in the following areas:

Refining and determining short and long term marketing strategies and plans
Identifying, implementing and maintaining tactical marketing initiatives including: affiliate programs, online advertising, email marketing, periodic promotions, catalog marketing and creative grassroots initiatives including social networks, blogs, strategic partnerships, and mobile marketing.
Building an exhaustive understanding of customers
Making the most out of your marketing budget
Requirements:

Bachelors' in Marketing, Business, or other related field, or equivalent experience.
5+ years Internet marketing experience.
Strong knowledge of web marketing, email marketing and direct mail production processes.
Strong quantitative skills required to analyze and optimize campaign performance.
Ability to work cross-functionally with other teams and to manage multiple projects simultaneously in order to meet ROI goals.
Must be results driven, detail oriented, and a team player.
Ability to work under pressure in a fast-paced team environment
This position is onsite in our Fairfax, Virginia offices only. No outsourcing or freelance positions for this job will be considered. Thanks for asking!

ThinkGeek is a small, close-knit group of fun, weird, and enthusiastic people who run one of the most successful niche e-commerce sites on the Internets. As part of SourceForge, Inc, a publicly held company, ThinkGeek employees receive an excellent benefits package while enjoying the benefits of working in an exciting start-up environment in our Fairfax, Virginia office. This posting is for a permanent, full time position in our Fairfax, Virginia office. Only local applicants or those willing to relocate at their own expense will be considered.

To apply for this position or refer someone you know, please use our online interview system managed by Accolo.

Once you have completed the online interview, your information will be forwarded to the hiring authority for decisions on next steps. Sorry, freelance or offsite requests will absolutely not be accepted.

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You may use this commodity on your website accouterment you cover the alive hotlink to our website.

A resume objective is the statement at the top of your resume that tells the employer why you have sent them your resume.

Think of it as an introduction.

The objective is one of the most important parts of a resume, but it is also one of the most difficult parts to write. Many resume objectives are very vague, others are too specific.

In general, a good resume objective should tell the employer about your skills, goals, attributes, and accomplishments.

How long should an objective be? In general, don’t let it take up more than three lines on your resume.

If it is too long, it probably won’t be read. Remember, most resumes are reviewed in less than 15 seconds.

Don’t force them to skim past something important because it is lost in the words.

State Your Current Goal

Start your objective by informing the reader on the type of position you are applying for.

You can be general or more specific. For example, you might start the objective with “seeking a position as a graphic designer.” If you are sending your resume in reply to a job advertisement, you should use the title the company used in the ad.

State Your Career Goal

After you have declared the position you are seeking, you should include what your career goals are.

If you are applying for the graphic design position and your goal is to become a web developer, you might add, “at a company with growth opportunities in web development.”

Tell the Employer About You

Last, return to your objective and see where you can add a summary of your qualifications.

The statement might become, “Seeking a position as a graphic designer, which utilizes my creative talents with colors and shapes, at a company with growth opportunities in web development.” Finally you have an objective that defines your current and long-term goals, and tells the reader a little about you.

If you decide to include a resume objective, make sure it is good! There is no point in taking up valuable page space with an objective like “Painter.” Employers consider this the second most important part of a resume, so don’t let a poorly written objective keep you from getting an interview!

A good piece of advice when doing any kind of writing is to gear your content towards the audience.

In the case of a resume or cover letter, your audience is the potential employer.

In order to gear your writing towards your audience, you need to know what they expect. So, what do employers expect from your resume?

A survey by the Association for Job Search Trainers asked recruiters various questions regarding what employers expect and prefer with resumes.

One question they asked was regarding the format of a resume. The majority of respondents wanted to see a chronological resume, which is a standard resume with your name, objective, employment history and education, but this is changing.

More and more employers would like a combination of a chronological and functional resume. A functional resume lists your experience in skill clusters.

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The quality of work done on your resume is considered an indication of the quality of work you will do for the employer.

Spelling and grammar mistakes will hurt your resume. Imagine getting through all the interviews.

The competition for the job is down to two people. The employer is sitting, trying to decide between the two candidates, and he or she notices a typo on your resume.

Don’t let proofreading keep you from getting the job you want.

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When you send an employer a resume, don’t forget to send them a well-written cover letter. They expect it! In your cover letter you should ask for an interview and let the employer know how they can get in contact with you.

Don’t forget to keep the audience in mind when creating a resume. Don’t make the mistake of sending the same resume to every employer. Figure out what they will expect and make sure that it is included. Understanding the expectations of employers will increase you job hunting success.